Shopping for a Winter Storm

I needed the $70 in groceries I bought yesterday before the ice storm. Like I need a hole in my head.

I was talking to Mitchell at the grocery store last week and he said if the weathermen would just mention that we might get some type of weather, it would sure give the store a boost. We were joking about the influx of shoppers before the big moment hits. And there I was yesterday, just like the other 60 shoppers at G & W. (And yes, 60 shoppers in G & W is SUPER CROWDED!)

I didn't have a list. I just felt like I needed to go. I must be the most unorganized shopper in the universe. I don't go in with a list, but am thinking of a few things I know I need, like milk, egges, and, well, that's all I could think of at the moment. But I scour each row as if I'm buying my last set of groceries ever!

Ohmygosh...condensed milk. Do I need condensed milk? Do I have any at home? Will I be cooking something that calls for canned milk? What if I don't have it and I need it? Should I get it? I don't need it. When's the last time I used condensed milk? Pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving? Please, I'm not going to make a pumpkin pie on a snow day.

So I bypass condensed milk. But then I get to the Ragu.

Do I need spaghetti sauce? Should I get some just in case? I could make spaghetti, cacciatori, lasagna...oh so many things with Ragu. But, really, a bad choice. What if my electric goes out? Hmmm. Where's my dutch oven? I could heat Ragu up in the dutch oven on my grill. (And now this gets me thinking I should be buying things I can grill just in case my electric goes out. Which then puts me into a panic to get home and get some wood out of the weather just in case I need to build a fire outside.)

Down the aisle is hot chocolate. And can't find my favorite brand. Shoot. They are out. Oh, but I could make it with milk, which I've already bypassed that aisle and will have to go back. Three trips later to the dairy case and I finally get what I came in for.

Betty checks me out, as usual. She combs through my basket and starts asking me what I'm cooking for dinner. I have no idea. All I know is I have 70 dollars invested in things like extra mayonaise, corn starch, and sesame ginger salad dressing. I can't remember the last time I bought any of these items.

I Want Snow

If it's going to be 4 degrees. I want snow. Buckets of it. Where I have to shovel out for weeks and weeks and get to stay in my pj's all day and make warm chocolate chip cookies for breakfast if I want.

Snows Days when I was a young child were spent in coveralls and mittens and boots outside for the first part. By noon, back inside where Caron and I made grilled cheese sandwiches...and Chef Boy R Dee ravioli from the can.
Then a game of monopoly would ensue, where I most often would win just because I was the banker. And sometimes we would play checkers and 4-cross on a tattered cardboard checkerboard. The checkers were stored in a small round blue peanut tin, and our games, for that matter, were stored in an iron tub in the corner of the room on the fireplace hearth. That hearth was the best hearth I think I've ever seen. In fact, some day, if I ever build my own house, I think I want a replica of that hearth. It was made from Arkansas stone and spread across the entire wall of the living room. The ledge went across the room as well, and we stored things on it, like the iron tub for games, a stack for newspapers to help start the fire, the fire utensils, and wood. Man, I'd like to see that hearth again. It was the place for family portraits, from the day my sister won homecoming queen, to night Janet, Tina and I dressed in our formals and went to dinner. The beautiful mantel at the top of the hearth sported a grandfather clock, owl paintings, family antiques, family photos, and most unsightly school pictures.